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A breakthrough victory still eludes the Parramatta Eels but there were finally real signs of life as they went down 16-8 to the Canterbury Bulldogs in Round 3. Sixties and Forty20 bring you all of their takes from a genuine heart breaker where guts weren’t enough to get the glory but finally the Eels showed something to build on.
I was so proud of the blokes out there today. I couldn’t really see a false note in our resolve & defence. JAC was great, & Samrani. Iongi looks the goods. Loved Juniors involvement today & the more these guys play together, the better they’ll be. Look at our Juniors, they’re all going great. We’ve got some good times to look forward to I think.
Much better resolve Gil. You build from efforts like that.
Still waiting for Dylan to show some sort of worth?
Newcastle Knights higher ups must be puckering over their money well spent?
The problem is that all our patterns are designed to get the ball to our right half for the kick, and DB is just sitting over on the left side. We need to move him to the right side. Hawkins was better than Volkman, but we need Brown to get more involved.
He’s still struggling isn’t he. His defence improved but we still need much more from Dyl.
I don’t care what anybody says, I’m proud of our team today.
Ask Dylan Brown to watch a few of his old tapes and show him what’s expected of him, our most dearly hall runner in attack for years was Dylan brown, and that’s all we need to look dangerous in attack again.
Defence and physicality today was 8/10. A huge improvement on last week. It’s just the slow / soft starts and errors costing us.
If Dylan brown plays like this for another 3-4 games I’m willing to pray to the footy gods that Jason Ryles makes a tough call and does something.
Joash papalii at 6 would at least offer us a create running threat and the bloke WILL run the ball to try and score tries. This blokes shown us more heart for the jersey in every trial match and NSW cup game this year than Dylan brown and it’s not even close. Admittedly he is playing at fullback. But parra currently needs a running threat from the 5/8 position to help create space for our outside men. Defences used to mark up Brown in clusters, now they don’t even look concerned at all tackling him.
I understand this is a risk and wild card if we tried something besides brown if this effort continues. But it’s hurtful as an eels fan the see the player with “the biggest ever NRL contract 💰” turn up each week and play as a passenger behind NSW cup half backs, while we struggle.
Also big props to Jnr – I’m proud of Jnr and he showed up today like he used to do for us.. proud our big mens efforts. Sam Tuivaiti + Jnr did themselves proud. All we want is effort from our middle forwards. The Results will come if our forwards turn up every week. 💛💙
Muz, kudos to you for looking at a loss in a glass half full scenario, and yes they were definitely much improved on the 1st 2 rounds, but I’ll look at it from the glass half empty perspective for a minute. The Dogs were pretty terrible, easily the worst they’ve played this year and probably most of last year as well. They were understrength (yes, no Moses is a loss too) and they gave the Eels a tonne of chances, especially in the 2nd half and the Eels couldn’t capitalise. The Eels had enough ball and field position to win that game but they never really looked likely. Still too many errors, still poor options, still some fragile defence – how that 1st try happens through the A defenders that early in the game is a massive worry. The biggest problem remains the edge forwards, the cupboard appears bare there. What I’d give for having a pairing like Walton and Nikora like the Sharks do. Nearly every team has at least 1 quality edge backrower, if not 2, but the Eels have nothing. Unfortunately, unlike the Matildas there’s no participation awards and despite an improved performance the Eels are still a long way off. The other 2 teams 0 and 3 are the Dolphins, who have been very close and also had some mitigating circumstances with the Hurricane, and the Cowboys who also improved this week. I honestly don’t know if the Eels could beat either of them at the moment.
Stubby, dogs didn’t look good but we attacked them in defence and physically our middles beat them. Our backs also out ran them and played more physical. Dogs never look as good without Burton & especially Kikau.
We also applied very good kick pressure, we physically tackled harder and I believe missed less tackles.
I don’t thing it’s as black & white as dogs played bad. We made them play the way they did with forced rush kicks and much improved line speed compared to what we’ve done recently.
I’m with you they didn’t play their best – but we’ve got a near non existent 5/8 and a nsw cup Halfback in his first NRL game as an eel.
To think we didn’t do ourselves proud that in many effort areas is selling ourselves short.
Plug in a Mitch Moses into that team today, and an “awake” active running Dylan brown and we would have flogged them.
If we had some attack today and less errors, that was almost a better looking team than what we saw most of last year. That was a massive improvement on the last two weeks, we would easily be this weeks most improved side.
I definitely would not have commented anything positive had we not massively improved like we did.
Agreed – we have the worst hooker rotation , starting props and edge rotation in the comp by miles (lane and katonga as terrible defensively). We have no punch or defensive steel on edges. Samrani was okay in running the ball but had crucial errors and was bad in defence – ryles needs to drop him and bring russel onto wing outside lomax as that improves defence.
Ultimately getting close against a dogs side missing two of their top 3 best players (kikau and Burton) + gun outside back kiraz and starting prop Hughes isn’t that impressive. It’s deflating and reflects how bad this team is. The left edge is putrid in defence. Lane was gassed early and Dylan is terrible in atttack. Penisini was putrid on the early sweep try Wilson scored.
Anyway, people will stay his is better than last week but barely. It’s Lipstick on a pig.
I have to disagree re Samrani. Other than the Xerri try I thought his defence was good. The reality is our edge defence was much better in the second half because our middle defence was far better. Our middles were much more physical which takes the pressure of your edge defence. I think Samrani is worth persevering with, although someone needs to coach him not to run so upright.
Samrani was decent in yardage but in defence tends to turn his hips in early + defend tight to half. He Showed same tendencies in the trials at centres. Oppositions know they can throw shape, get him to turn in and then skin him on outside. Xerri try is the textbook try with Damrani at centre. So I think we need lomax at centre full time. No other team does this gimmick with switching between centre and wing and for good reason.
Agreed it all starts at ruck but we aren’t helping ourselves on edges when we have lane and penisini next to eachother + katonga and Samrani on other edge. Both edges are paper thin defensively (and only had to deal with salmon + Preston). As soon as fatigue set in lane and penisini went for dumb plays down short sides/drop balls. Dylan went MIA as usual and we looked directionless.
Onto manly I guess
Hayne was an upright runner
Stubbyholder, I think you are discounting the errors that the Eels forced on the Dogs. I’m certain they’ll be feeling the physicality of that game this week. Look, the Eels finesse was low, as I said in the pod. And there were some frustratingly bad errors in attack, but we badly needed an effort to build from. Will a similar game be acceptable next week or moving forward? No. Because they have to move forward. But damn we had to stem the tide of not being in the contest.
Don’t get me wrong, sixties, the improvement was there for all to see. All I’m saying is that where the bar was set after the 1st 2 rounds, it wasn’t much of a jump to get over it. Strides forward were taken, but there’s still a decent way to go to be competitive with even the other bottom teams and a yawning gap to reach the top 3 or 4. I think the Eels were on top for probably around 60% of the game, the Dogs were way off their game and still managed to win. The good teams maintain consistency and even when they have an off day they manage to win ugly more often than not – that’s what the Dogs did.
Well said Muz.
Today’s loss was one to be proud of, despite the result. I thought Lomax and Hopgood really stood out as our best players on the field. Hawkins impressed as a quality backup, and to be honest, when Moses returns, I’d seriously consider dropping Brown and putting Hawkins in at 6. Brown has been consistently underwhelming, and it’s clear his focus hasn’t been where it needs to be.
Similarly, Lane had a shocking performance, only managing 33 metres—completely unacceptable for someone in his position. Both players showed a lack of heart and intensity, which was disappointing to the point that it may start to have an effect on team morale, especially with Brown.
Herculean performances from those 2. Lomax with nearly 300m in his hybrid wing/centre role and Hopgood with 48 tackles in just 57 minutes, that’s an astonishing rate of .84 tackles per minute. He is still very underrated in his defensive capabilities.
Ham, that tackle rate is astonishing. No doubt it’s impacting his attacking involvement.
Some really good signs from a lot of our players today. There’s a chance our back rowers besides Williams were instructed to run less and be stronger defensively because that’s the area teams have been destroying us when attacking those parts. Teams have been teeing off on us scoring endless points in and around the second rowers in previous games including trials matches.
Lane has, to my mind, been impacted by his lack of a preseason. He made some good defensive reads, but he looked gassed and errors happened around him in attack. I honestly see him as a middle rotation player but our edge options seem limited right now.
The hammer needs to come down on Dylan sooner rather than later. Despite other players making errors, some that led to tries, nearly every player gave it their all in today’s game. Then there was Dylan who was happy to just shovel the ball on rather than ask the defence questions. These 3 performances are now not only the worst I’ve seen of Dylan, been watching him since he was a 15 year old in his debut game on the central coast, they are some of the worst performances I’ve seen of any Eels player. He needs to be put in reserve grade for someone who will have a crack, and not release him to newcastle. Do not give him and them what they want
Agree Ham he’s playing in a dinner suit and going through the motions. 1 game I could get over but 3 games is just rubbing our noses in it. He’s definitely saving himself for next year. We can not continue.
Hawkins and Moses would be outstanding.
Agree the sentiment re Brown but, you can’t have both Hawkins and Moses. We don’t have the edge backrowers to capitalise. We need an attacking 5/8, I would put either Ilongi or Papali’i there, preferably Ilongi, I think Papali’i would be more dangerous from the back, with his speed and footwork he can bob up anywhere. When Simmonson returns, you could play Lomax in the 6 and persevere with Samrami in the centres. Or you could put Brown in the centres, Simmonson on the wing and Samrami on the bench as an impact player. Just spitballing a few ideas, don’t shoot me.
Hams none of us enjoy speaking like this about any parramatta eel unless it’s this obvious
But it’s like he is showing his loyalty to BA by not fully applying himself, ppl can laugh at that but there’s a chance this guy doesn’t like the new coach, just wants to leave, or is saving himself
A bad head space is not a sufficient excuse to play your worst games in history as an eel every week, something is going on here and it’s blatantly obvious, because Dylan looks like our clubs least hungry player and he’s on $1 million dollar a year approximately
Maybe Muz he is simply out of form. No doubt he misses Moses but I have said before Brown is not a leader but rather a follower. That’s why Newcastle have bought a problem. Let’s try Joash or Longi at 5/8.
Hawkins was predictable with his kicking and should have tried grubbers as a mixer. Junior was better but not good. He should try running onto the ball rather than catching and then running. We have a good one with Sam T and Ryley S. Once again critical errors led to trys. But that second half defensive effort was the best I have seen for some time. The attack wasn’t great but the defence was fantastic. We just need eighty minutes of it. I am confused why they leave Lane on for so long. He makes horrendous errors when gassed.
Muz, I don’t think he’s anything but in a bad head space and resultingly out of form. However, that shouldn’t be the deciding factor in selections. If Ryles thinks the team would be better with another option, he should do that. Parra can’t afford to carry a player that we hope will click into gear.
I hope you are right sixties and it’s just his head space. Because if he is disinterested or unhappy. we may not get see him return to form at parra again. We need him even more than last season I feel.
Let me emphasise to anyone reading Ham’s comment here just what it’s taken for him to write this about Dylan. Ham is one of Dyl’s greatest supporters. It’s an indication of where things are at.
A huge improvement on the first 2 games. I’ll accept the pain we are going through as long as we continue to improve. It will mean absolutely nothing if we go back to passive defence next week with no effort.
Williams in the middle definitely improves the balance. Morreti joining that rotation will improve us further. Simmonson would be a welcome return as well and the obvious Moses.
I’m glad that you mentioned Moretti’s potential return. He will be a big inclusion.
What’s going on with Charlie Guymer ? I’d have thought he was a walk up starter in this team.
Look I am not happy we lost to C’bury as I truly disllike them, but the effort from most was better and so it dam well should be.
I thought Lomax was superd and Hopgood was v good again. JAC did some good things and used some voice.
No comment on our 5/8.
Junior should be one of our best forwards each and every game, and today he had a good game. He is our most highly paid forward and has been for a while, and I almost forgot he is captain. Hope he can be as good as this for the season consistently.
C’bury had their two best players out today and we had Moses out but our half stood up well and I reckon he kicked pretty well.
I said to a mate if we can score 18 points today we will win; I was half right.
The true test will be next week.
I thought Lomax just went back to what he did last year, just worked his arse off, and just chased everything that moved. It’s no secret that our kick chase looked so much better today. It hasn’t happened yet, but we will get some joy with Lomax eventually.
Brett, he ran for nearly 300 metres with the ball and probably added more than that running to compete for the ball. His kilometres in the match might be the highest ever for a centre.
What I liked was that he actually moved positions to chase the kick, he didn’t just stay in his lane. There were times he’d pop up in the middle of the field, other times just on the left hip of Hawkins.
What we need is someone else to chase them through, with Lomax’s ability in the air he’s going to be a target for escorts which are inconsistently called to say the least. Having someone else chase through they’ll get an easier run to the contest.
Well noted Milo.
Today definately showed signs of life in the team. All the new guys again were all the best players on the field and out shown most of our existing players. Lomax outstanding numbers were off the charts. Fox’s energy needs to bottled it is invaluable in a team struggling. The conversation on Dylan is not going away and is only going to get louder with these perplexing performances. His in 2nd gear and something is wrong. I really like Joash as a player but he needs a dominant kicking 7 like Moses to be affective at 6 his a straight out runner of the ball a very limited kicking game. Definately could be worth looking at once Moses is back
That kicking game from Moses is probably why he can’t be rushed back with the foot injury. With how often he kicks the ball in a game, he can’t be 90% right when he returns.
Like everyone else, pretty happy with the effort of the boys today except maybe two players. Brown and JAC, and before everyone has a go at me for JAC have a look at his work off the ball and hit ups. They were nonexistent and when he catches the ball from a kick and sends a big pass to our fullback so he can run into the wall of the opposition, well to me he hasn’t changed at all and is just lazy.
Not sure if we can get another 5 Lomax’s but hell his efforts were unbelievable.
A little bit of leadership in attack and we easily win today.
Yeah but, JAC gives us some desperately needed leadership & belief. You saw when he scored that try he showed more life than the rest of the team had all season. He has his flaws sure, but his strengths are exactly what we need right now, his weaknesses we can cover … for now at least.
Brett he was an important inclusion because of the intangible he brings. Actually we were so lacking in them that they were quite tangible, if that makes sense.
Absolutely. Just his “we can do this” attitude is desperately needed
AB, Ryles indicated that he thought it was a good return from him with aspects that they need to work on. I think he smells what you’re cooking.
Much improved defensive effort.
Bulldogs threw everything they had at us. They had a couple of outs and so did we.
Still some dumb errors and missed tackles but much improved effort.
3 Lomax
2 Hopgood and Williams
1 Iongi was solid at the back
Fair call on Hopgood and Williams getting some points. I went with Junior for my two points. The forwards did much better this week and deserve acknowledgement.
How good are Hopgood and Williams working together, great signs for the future. Lomax should have got 20 Dally M points today.
One of the most amazing performances from a contribution perspective that I’ve ever seen from a centre.
An improved effort but still disappointing- that game was there to be won.
Juniors best game of the year. Lomax all effort again.
Dean Hawkins made a huge difference to the side.
Dylan Brown…easily the most qualified half on both sides and also the most absent. If you showed a non league fan that game and said the most expensive player in the games history was playing they would have picked blokes coming off the bench before the parra 6. He is playing at reserve grade level.
BP, it was there to be won, but unlike the Tigers who made errors by themselves, the Eels sting the Dogs. We just lacked the cohesion and finesse in attack to go on with it.
Boy we have really lowered our standards to see people happy with that today. Let’s be real. If the Dogs played to 74% of their ability, Parra get run over today. It was better than the first two weeks, but the first two weeks couldn’t be much worse.
First try against is pitiful from Williams and Hopgood who was lazy.
Ryles loses respect for selecting Lussick and for leaving him out there as long as he did.
Lomax was the standout. He will be more dangerous if Moses comes back.
Williams had a reasonable crack after the first mistake. I don’t expect him to be a game changer, he is a bench level player.
Other than that, what one good run from Paulo (and then offloaded to no one). Absolutely nothing from Lane… again. Joe O, gives little, Iongi gives you one nice moment a game, not a heck of a lot more and Penisini just makes bad choices.
Then Brown. Again, watch him walking in the background for the Wilson try. 2.5 minutes to go and instead of stepping up, leaves it to Hawkins to just generically kick it down field for a net gain of about 25-30m… If he just gives a C level effort the Eels at least get the game to extra time.
Put Iongi to 5/8 and Lomax to fullback.
That game sadly did nothing to make me think the Eels don’t run last.
Most of that is true, but you got to start somewhere. You’ve got to grab whatever positives you can, and you can’t deny that was a vastly improved performance over the first two weeks. Yes, that’s a low bar we covered, but it’s something. As Gus says, things are never as bad as they seem.
Eradicate 3 or 4 moments from that game and the result is different, I reckon we were better than many are saying.Rugby League games invite stuff ups. ‘The times that I thought were the end of the world, Didn’t turn out so bad after all…’ Joe Walsh agrees with Gus and probably not a cliche to Joe.
BA, your comments are true but only highlight the negatives. The coaches will no doubt have that in the video session. And you’re right, a performance of that level moving forward will not be good enough – I emphasised that in the podcast. But they needed to start taking steps forward, such was the magnitude of how bad the first two weeks were. I’m not sure whether you were at the game, but I found it to be a gripping contest to watch. I shouted expletives at our errors. I let loose at the match officials for dud calls. I cheered for effort plays and tries. I felt like I was watching a football game. That compares to me sitting numb at the first two weeks. Again, it’s a base that we had to have.
All fair Sixties.
I like many spent many years on the hill or in the stands through the late 80’s, most of the 90’s and various parts of the 2000’s, watching our club fail to look competitive believing our juniors would be the saviour.. and it never happened.
And in 2025 I feel like we have dropped so far from the lofty heights of 2022 and the long term promise it posed. To where we are now, a complete rabble once again hoping juniors will pull us through .. juniors minus our best juniors who have been let walk.
I get it was a better effort than weeks 1. &2 but we didn’t really threaten and the only real attacking weapon we were missing was Moses. Some fringe level forwards who were missing wasn’t going to change that result.
I’m clinging to the fact that there are a whole bunch of ordinary sides in the comp so we will get a few wins. All we can hope for is a few juniors developing into first graders – then making sure we are able to keep them and surround them with some talent.
Sorry for being a negative Nancy. Just hate that the club was heading in the right direction and now it is in a huge hole. And 2 of the people who have to take responsibility are still there. Hopefully Nathan Brown and Rylsey can rebuild our program without limitations from the HoF and CEO.
Just my opinion.
Agree with most comments.
A couple of points…
JAC spent the whole game coaching Penisini – “no .. mate don’t go in there stay stay ”
The only time Penisini didn’t listen was in the Wilson try where he left JAC with two runners.
JAC will do absolute wonders for Penisini game and if JAC wasnt there today, Penisini would have had a bath but the question remains .. JAC isn’t there to coach Penisini, where has the coaching been ?
JAC still can’t get the ball.
Poor JR would be having nightmares about Dylan Brown. what do you do ? Bloke is basically an empty suit.
It’s not going to go away Jason.
You need to put him out of his misery.
I know Joash or whomever you put there won’t be as skillful but we need complete buy in and complete effort.
We just arnt getting that from Dylan.
Considering we are carrying Shaun Lane who considering his size, is a disgrace of a player and Joffa on the wane, it was a great effort from everyone else.
Lomax deserves a pay rise. What a bloody champion, but if he’s doing 40 hit ups what is everyone else doing ?????
Some good points spark. JAC helping will is probably partly why we didn’t leak 20 + points today in all fairness.
The Dylan brown issue is interesting, what does Jason do if he just keeps showing up like this?
Mate I don’t know what Jason does about Dylan.
He’s waiting for him to play football but it’s an empty shell at the moment.
Problem is we just don’t have replacements bashing the door down.
I suppose that’s why JR gets the big bucks but he just can’t ignore it.
Spark, of course the coaching has been happening. They go into those specialist position groups at training to fine tune that stuff, but you just saw in that game what Jac does in scrimmage work. He never shuts up. Ever. He was a big in. I thought that Will would have a big season and it was because of what I saw at training alongside Foxx. That might still eventuate.
Finally, some signs of life. Lomax was unbelievable. I could hardly believe it. Another hit up. Yet another one. Really leading by example. In the thick of it all the way. What a game by him.
Samrani – my type of outside back. Run hard, run straight, leave nothing in the tank. Bring that ball back 100mph each time. Yes a bad error there in the first half, but a decent game otherwise.
It was good to see Paulo apply himself this week. Some power, some punishment in defence.
Lane and Joe O. Lacklustre and lethargic performances, lacking venom and urgency. Terrible arm grab by Williams leading to an embarrassing try but other than that he had real energy about him.
Dylan Brown. It’s time to stand up and grab the game by the neck, son. It’s a minute to midnight for you. Please please put the foot down next week against Manly. We need you
JAC simply brilliant along with Lomax. Iongi will be a star one day.
Hopgood appears to be carrying weight and seems lazy in the ruck/defensive line. I feel he is unfit. Simple errors and slow. Could be a great player.
Not going to criticise otherwise except as to say please just let Dylan go now. He’s not trying and we could be blooding a young player. The other half Hawkins was tremendous.
The Dogs are well organised, energetic and I reckon their line speed did as much to neutralise our attack as our lack of craft and execution right now. I”ll run with the positives from that performance, a bit less bumbling in the first 20 minutes might have seen us much better placed on the scoreboard. That first Dogs try was ridiculous,but basically was the difference…Hopgood appealed the play the ball for planting (there was a case) and then thought he was out of play, Williams reacted like play was stopping, they both had momentarily switched off, and paid the price…it looked so weird..’here big fella, just run through’.
Brown was one of my favourite players, in 2022 when he and Lane were tearing it up I was convinced he’d surpass Munster. Reality is both have fallen off a cliff and I suspect they lack resiliamnce and strngth of will to maintain that level of play… Lomax on the other hand is setting the standard, a standard that the team need to follow… those who don’t should not be rewarded with selection in first grade.
On another note, the commentators on nine were wondering why our attack got into gear in the second half. Simple, Ryley Smith came on. His pass selection was far superior to Lussick, the width and accuracy gave the halves space, and because of thet they were able to work together and we no longer relied on Hopgood to link the play. Unfortunately Smith isn’t ready to play 80 minutes, but, in the short term, there is no way, that either Hands or Lussick can stay on for more than 20. They are, unfortunately reserve grade standard. The good news is Smith is the real deal.
Next week I’d play Joash at 14 and start Smith, take the plunge, this would also be a way of signalling to Brown that he is on notice.
Lane needs to go to reserves, Matto, probably needs to take his place, and Latu needs to start in Cup. We need to give Latu every opportunity to stake a claim for first grade.
Hows that for some a-grade back seat driving
hahaha
Definitely an improvement.
The good.
The effort from Lomax has to inspire the team. No doubt his centre partner would do well with that level of intensity. I’m sure JR isn’t coaching him to hang back and let Zac do all the chasing. Surprisingly, Penisini had 15 tackles to Lomax’s 5.
Hopgood and Williams are a solid engine room in defence
For mine, we improved the minute Smith came on.
I predicted he would be the starting hooker before Moses comes back. He’s ready now. 29 tackles and 66 passes in 35 minutes. Two and 14 respectively more than Lussick with 10 minutes less on the paddock.
JAC will be the equal of Sivo at scoring tries but much better at stopping them. He also has a solid football brain.
The room for improvement section.
Discipline in the first half was poor. It cost us a try and possibly the game.
Iongi still has the worst defensive stats in the NRL.
A fullback has to tackle as well as run. He needs to work hard on that part of his game.
He is quick but his predecessor would have probably set up 2 tries in that game.
Lane looked sluggish but he tackled as well as Paulo. He has a habit of trying impossible passes. If 1 or 2 stick, I think opinions about him might change but he isn’t getting support close enough to him for that to happen.
Next week.
Manly were in hot form today.
The backline defence has to hold.
We need some set plays that create chances. I think we will need at least 3 tries to be in the game.
One from Lomax off a kick, one from the Fox.
Where can we find a third?
With each passing week, I become less disappointed that Brown won’t be an Eel in 2026.
I personally don’t care why he’s absent anymore, all I care about is 17 players giving their best each week.
If he dishes out another performance like that next week then he should be dropped and left to rot in the lower grades. What do we have to lose? Games? Well we’re doing that already.
Something has to give, this can’t go on. Anyone right now will offer more than Brown. Joash, Volkman, Matterson or Hands, who cares, they’ll all put in more effort than Brown.
In rugby league, I think the most admired trait in a player is ‘having a go’, over raw talent. We love Gutho, Hindmarsh, now, Lomax. The stark difference between Lomax’ and Brown’s games against the Dogs could not be clearer
So true, the greatest players in the game leave nothing on the field. The greatest players aren’t always the most gifted.
Thought Parker and Mataele were great in cup yesterday the first 20 minutes was a real grind in the middle
Haze joash and Baily were great also Russel
It’s good to see there’s cup players pushing for spots this year it’s been missing the last couple of years
So glad to see Paulo finally put in a decent effort and contribute to the game. Credit where credit is due and while I have been critical of his efforts so far this year and last year I thought today, he really put in, he even took the first carry of the game and rushed up out of the line a few times trying to make a hit (missed, but he tried). Hope he keeps it up.
Lomax wow what an effort. Just amazing. A much better effort by eeveryone (apart from Dylan) and that is all I am hoping for this season, effort and better structures appearing.
As for our edge frowards am I right in thinking Samrani can play edge as well? If so when Bailey returns that is where I would like to see him have a run, can’t do any worse.
While JAC didn’t set the world on fire I think his attitude and talk would be infectious and those are things that stats don’t show.
Did anyone beloeve the hip drop penalty was deserved. Bulldogs got a try directly after which put them out of reach.
I’ve now been to Melbourne then Parramatta twice from Newcastle for no victories.
It’s getting hard to convince my daughters to keep coming.
Steven Crichton robbed us for two penalties and storms captain also robbed us by milking them. The roll of the ball and run of the refs needs to turn in our favor soon.
I didn’t think it was a penalty either, (Crichton getting up and running comfortably straight after showed he played for it). But you still have to be able to defend your line.
Well we’re off to Brookie next. Maybe give your daughters a rest this week 😝
Brilliant podcast as always!! Thanks for the shout out! Up the mighty Eels!